Oversight Committee Seeks Answers About Libya Security Lapse

In a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee is seeking answers from the State Department about its refusal to increase security at the U.S. Consulate in Libya, following months of repeated attacks in Benghazi.

The letter details a list of 13 security threats and attacks in Libya during the six months leading up to the September 11 attack that killed U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens. He was among four Americans killed as part of the terrorist attack.

It wasn’t the first such incident that threatened the lives of Americans, according to the House committee:

• On April 6, two Libyans threw “a small IED over the Consulate fence.” No one was injured and no one was prosecuted for the attack.

• Then in June, a Facebook page publicized Stevens’ “habit of taking early morning runs around Tripoli.” The page is alleged to have posted a picture of the ambassador and “directed a threat against [him].” After a week or so, Stevens resumed his morning runs.

• Also in June, a larger IED destroyed part of the security perimeter “on the north gate of Consulate Benghazi.” The letter describes the hole in the perimeter as “big enough for forty men to go through.”

• In the weeks leading up to the September 11 attack in Benghazi, unarmed Libyan guards working for a British contractor received warnings from family members to “quit their jobs guarding Consulate Benghazi because there were rumors in the community of an impending attack.”

Oversight Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) and Representative Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) asked why this pattern of attacks and threats against the United States was ignored by the State Department, which denied the U.S. mission’s requests for increased security.

The letter specifically asks Clinton if the State Department was aware of the attacks and threats leading up to September 11, and, if not, why? If headquarters was aware of the attacks and threats, the letter asks, what measures did the department take to match the level of threat in Benghazi? Lastly, the letter asks for details about the requests made for additional security and details about the response from the State Department to those requests for increased security.

These questions are the latest in the effort to determine the extent of the Administration’s knowledge about the attack, its perpetrators, and the conflicting information disseminated in its aftermath. The committee is expected to convene a hearing on the security failure in Libya on October 10.

Join The Discussion

Did the people get answers from this Obama administration about "Fast and Furious"? Do you really expect answers about Libya or the Middle East. Yet the Republicans do NOTHING to hold Obama accontable.

The GOP is hoping the people will hold Obama accountable in a month, but what will they do if the people are fooled again? If the people don't care that he has repeatedly broken the law, flaunted court orders, bypassed Congress and failed miserably to revive our economy and our foreign policy, will even a GOP-controlled Congress have the political will to at most impeach him or at least shutdown the government?

I hate to say it but Hillary Clinton is about the most "honest" person in that cabinet, and that is not saying much with the low lifes in this administration. She may produce something, but I bet it will be after the election, when Libya is just a footnote in history.

People in high places that carry with them the "protected class" label, don't have to answer questions, aren't held accountable, can do anything they want without suffering their own consequences that they put on the country. It's wrong and unfair to this country to have ANYONE in a "protected class" resuming government positions while any act they make irresponsibly, protects them. ARRESTS NEED TO BE MADE AND THERE SHOULD BE NO SUCH THING AS A "PROTECTED CLASS" by government fiat in America. It violates the constitution and America's core principles!

One purpose of THREE branches of OUR (the peoples) government is for the purpose of check and balance.
Is there a congressman or congresswomen who will show their committment to the oath of office they took and speak out about the treason and corruption in the executive branch that is in action. How many more laws must be broken by The President and his Dept of Justice before they are called to justice? Is the law and rule of IMPEACHMENT still on the books and records in WASHINGTON D.C.?

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